I can’t help but enjoy the fact that the white supremacy flyers left on Pittsford lawns last fall have led to the election of the suburb’s first African-American town board member.

Sure, Kevin Beckford cares about preservation, tax efficiency and other town topics. But when his neighbors and friends started being recruited to make the town great again by making it “whiter,” he was pushed into a role he hadn't imagined. The election of Donald Trump was a wake-up call, said Beckford, who unseated an incumbent on Tuesday night. The flyers were a “shove off the cliff.”

Rob Barley was elected to the Henrietta Town Board on Tuesday.(Photo: Provided)

Rob Barley also made history, winning an election that will make him Henrietta’s first African-American Town Board member. Of course, he cares about infrastructure, youth sports and zoning. He was also upset that Supervisor Jack Moore was facing multiple Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints of discrimination and was accused of telling an employee that a town office desk was heavier than 10 “dead n----.” Moore, who lost his re-election bid on Tuesday, has denied saying those words.

Robin Wilt was elected to the Town Board in Brighton, which also saw racist flyers. She will be the second African-American to hold that office there.

The motto that seems to have led to this historic night? Don’t get mad, get elected.

Robin Wilt(Photo: Provided)

“This is no time to sit on the sidelines,” Wilt said.

After the racist flyers appeared, Beckford brought his daughter to join about 300 other people who protested them during a rainy march through the village of Pittsford. People were free to express hateful ideas, he had told her. And people who opposed them had a responsibility to say “not here, not now, not ever.”

At the end of the march Beckford went up to the organizers. “What’s next?” he asked. “Protest is nice, but systemic change is better.”

Together they formed PittsForward, a group that focuses on diversity and inclusion. When there was an opportunity to run for town board, Beckford decided to take it.

Many people were embracing of his political efforts, but not all. He quickly learned more people would open the door for him if he brought along a white campaign volunteer and had that person ring the doorbell. After learning that he was running for office, a woman at one house he visited said to him “at least I know I am not being robbed.”

His website was hacked and police told him to take care running for office in a town with white supremacist activity. He said he never thought to quit. “You can’t just let them win,” he said.

Barley didn’t quit either, despite losing his first effort to get on the Henrietta Town Board two years ago. A few months before that election, Supervisor Moore was caught on tape disparaging African-Americans as “city cousins” who weren't from Henrietta. “We get all kinds of them, they bus them out here, OK?" the recording said.

Barley said that he used to be a “city cousin.” In the in early 1980s he was a young father living in Rochester and trying to make ends meet. After finishing his first job as a bank teller, he would take the bus out to Henrietta to work a second job in a clothing store at Marketplace Mall.

Even though the words hurt, he was willing to forgive Moore. Then he heard the accusation about Moore comparing desk furniture to dead black people. “From that moment on, I knew I had to get him out of office.”

Barley’s campaign wasn’t focused on racial insensitivity. He focused on unfilled potholes holes and unfixed scoreboards at Henrietta’s Veterans Memorial Park. He criticized Moore’s handling of the town’s finances and infrastructure. But he was happy to have helped unseat a man who didn’t seem to respect African-Americans.

Rob Barley will be the first African-American to sit on the Henrietta Town Board.(Photo: provided photo)

He said that things have greatly improved for African-Americans who would like to participate in politics, compared to the experiences of past generations. “They had it way rougher than us,” he said. “They got hung, shot, beaten and thrown in jail for nothing…This is easy to fight and I am honored to do it.”

Wilt also spoke about black politicians on whose shoulders she stands. She still has a letter that Assemblyman David Gantt sent her when she was honored in the Urban League Black Scholars program in 1987. “It is my hope that the recognition you are receiving now will serve to further inspire you towards excellence, not only in academics, but in all aspects of your life,” it reads.

She said she hopes that her election, and the election of many “firsts” around the country on Tuesday is a sign of progress. “It does feel like a special moment in history. We are seeing a response to the national rhetoric of divisiveness and people are rejecting it on a local level.”

Rob Barley is the first African-American elected to the Henrietta Town Board.(Photo: provided photo)

Rochester City Councilman Adam McFadden, past president of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, said that Wilt, Beckford and Barley should be proud of their campaigns but that their work is just beginning. He recommended that they find good mentors and study their town charters.

For now, they can savor a historic moment.

“I am very happy,” said Barley, who voted with his granddaughter Aalliyah. “We have had a black president and here we are talking about a town board seat. But everything takes its time.”

Erica Bryant is the Democrat and Chronicle's Pay It Forward columnist. Contact her at ebryant@gannett.com.